Superheater header



Aug. 2, 1932. RFsTEIN ET AL SUPERHEATER HEADER Filed Jan. 10, 1951 ZSheets-Sheet 1 m FM Ru 0 T Nmm/ E a Nu h ATTORNEY I Aug. 2, 1932. R. STEIN ET AL SUPERHEATER HEADER Filed Jan. 10. 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS RlahnclSiein-F Haiku?! F'ralqK ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 2, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RICHARD STEIN, OF KASSEL, AND HERBERT FRANK, OF KASSEL-WILHELMSHOHE, GER- MANY, .ASSIGNORS TO THE SUPERHEATER COMPANY, OFQNEW YORK, N. Y.

SUPERHELATER HEADER Application filed January 10, 1931, Serial No. 507,849, and in Germany January 15, 1930.

The invention relates to superheater headers of the type in which the parts for saturated steam and superheated steam are sepav rate and in which these two parts have fingerlike mutually meshed transverse chambers or subsidiary headers to which the ends of the superheater elements are connected. To connect the two separate parts, there have in the past been provided at the free end of each m subsidiary header lugs which abut against corresponding seats of the other chamber and which are held together in pairs by means of screws in such a manner that relative displacement of the two chambers caused by dili'erential expansion of them is not interfered with. This old means of connecting them is complicated inasmuch as separate connecting screws are necessary for each point of connection. Moreover, there is no assurance that the several subsidiary headers which alternately contain saturated and superheated steam will not be out of alignment vertically. If such vertical misali nment occurs it will be difficult to keep the ends of V the element tight in service.

These disadvantages are avoided by the presentinvention which consists in having the lugs of the two parts not directly secured but having them abut against a bar which F extends through the lugs lengthwise of the header. Any material variations in the vertical position of the subsidiary headers are thereby made impossible and the position of the points of contact of the element ends with the subsidiary headers will therefore remain unaltered in service. In addition, the walls of the subsidiary headers are relieved of bending, moments because any tension or pressure which might be exerted by the elements is transmitted to the bar and through it equally to all of the lugs on the headers. A particularly advantageous form of the invention consists in having the said longitudinal bar extend into the notches or recesses in the lugs as a very simple means of connection is thereby provided which admits of the necessary displacements in a horizontal plane but is rigid vertically.

In the drawings, the invention is shown in several illustrative forms. Fig. 1 shows a partial transverse sectionthrough the smokebox of a locomotive with a front view of the header of the superheater; Fig. 2 shows a top view of the header partly in horizontal section; Fig. 3 shows on a larger scale a transverse section .through the header on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, the section extending through a subsidiary chamber of the saturated steam chamber. In Fig. 3a there is shown a corresponding partial section through a subsidiary chamber of the superheated steam chamber; Fig. 4 shows a transverse section similar to that of Fig. 3 of a variation of the header showing a further illustrative form of the new connection; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary transverse section of a variation of the connection by means of the bar; Fig. 6 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 66 of Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 is a view from below upward toward the bar.

In Figs. 1 to 3 the reference numeral 1 designates the saturated steam chamber with the longitudinal space 2 and the finger-like subsidiary headers 3 extending from space 2 and the nozzle 4 to which the dry-pipe from the boiler is connected. Reference numeral 5 refers to the superheated steam chamber with the longitudinal space 6, the finger-like subsidiary headers 7 extending at right angles from it and the connecting nozzles 8 to which are connected the steam pipes leading to the steam chests. The saturated chamber 1 is provided at its sides with lugs 10 by means of which it is supported on the bracle ets 11 which are secured to the smoke-box wall. The superheated chamber 5 is connected rigidly with the saturated header 1 at the rear end. For this purpose it is provided with the downwardly extending lugs 14 which are secured to the corresponding lugs 15 of the saturated chamber 1 by means of the bolts 16 (see Fig. 3). In order to take the load off the bolts 16, the superheated chamber rests by means of the ledges 17 on seats 18 of the saturated header. At the front end of the subsidiary headers, the two parts 1 and 5 are connected to each other by means of the longitudinal bar 9. This bar extends lengthwise of the headers and engages re-- cesses in the lugs on the front walls of the subsidiary headers. secured to the saturated header by means of the studs 21 which extend through holes in the bar and have nuts on. them to draw the bar up firmly against the bottom of the recesses 20 in the lugs 19 of the subsidiary headers 3. The recesses 22 in the lugs 23 of the subsidiary superheated headers 7 are deeper so that a clearance 13 is left between the bottoms of the recesses 22 and the bar 9 so that the subsidiary chamoers 7 which are heated to a higher temperature by the superheated steam and therefore expand more than the saturated subsidiary chambers 3 can move relatively to the bar in a horizontal direction. The arrangement described, however, prevents a relative movement of the sub sidiary chambers vertically. Consequently any possible stresses set up through the superheater elements in a vertical direction against the subsidiary headers will be transferred to the bar and through it to the entire series of subsidiary headers. In addition, distortions are kept from affecting the seats engaged by the superheater element ends. The superheater elements 2% have their one ends con nect-ed to the saturated chamber 3, extend into the flues 25 of the boiler, and are connected with their other ends to the superheated chamber 7 To secure the superheater elements to the subsidiary chambers, bolts 26 are employed which extend through the spaces 27 separating the saturated subsidiary headers 3 from the superheated subsidiary headers 7 The heads 28 of the bolts 26 engage clamps 29 into which the superheater element ends are expanded. The bolts are drawn up by means of the nuts 30 which press against the edges 32 and 33 of the subsidiary headers through the washers 31. If the connections are to be kept tight, it is important that the subsidiary headers do not move relatively to each other in a vertical direction. This is prevented by having the subsidiary headers engage the bar as described.

The header according to Fig. differs from the one just described mainly in that the subsidiary headers do not extend in the same di rection from the transverse chambers of the saturated and superheated parts, that is toward the front, but extend in opposite directions. The subsidiary headers 35 extend forward from the longitud nal chamber 36 of the saturated steam part 37 whereas the subsidiary headers 38 extend back from the longitudinal chamber 39 of the superheated steam part 40. New. in order to have the bar 41 engage alternately saturated subsidiary headers 35 and superheated subsidiary headers 40, there are provided on the front side of the superheated header forwardly extending lugs 42 which extend between the lugs 43 of the saturated subsidiary headers 35. The form of the lugs 4-2 corresponds to that of the lugs 43 except that the recesses 44- of the lugs At its ends the bar 9 is.

42 into which the bar 41 extends are deeper than the recesses 45 of the lugs 43. There is therefore left between the bottom of the recesses la and the bar ll a clearance whereas the bar ll is pressed directly against the bottom of the recesses 45 by means of the screws l6. A closely corresponding connection is provided at the rear wall of the header. Here backwardly extending lugs l8 are provided on the saturated steam header which extend into the spaces between the lugs d9 of the superheated subsidiary chambers 33. The longitudinally extending bar which is secured by means of screws to the saturated header engages recesses in the lugs 48, a9. The recesses 52 of the lugs of the superheated subsidiary chamb rs are again deeper than the recesses in the lugs d8 of the saturated chamber.

In the illustrative example shown in Fi gs. 5 to 7 the bar 53 does not engage recesses in the lugs. It is inserted between flanges on the saturated header and the superheated header in such a manner that the flanges 5a of the saturated header 55 engage the underside and the flanges 56 of the superheated header 57 engage the upper side of the bar. The bar 53 is connected with several flanges 54: of the saturated header, for instance, with the two outer lugs and the middle lug by means of screws 58. These screws extend through the elongated holes 59 in the lugs so that a displacement of the bar 53 and the saturated chamber in a longitudinal direction of the header is possible. The superheated header 57 can move relatively to the bar 53 and hence also relatively to the saturated header not only in a longitudinal direction but also transversely, since the bar 53 does not engage the vertical wall 60 of the superheated header but has a clearance 61 at this point. Occasionally it may also be advisable to support the bar from the smoke-box wall. In such a case the flanges of the superheater header may simply engage the bar or they may be connected to it by means of screws.

We claim:

1. A superheater header having, in combination, two separate parts for saturated and superheated steam respectively, each part provided with alined transverse subsidiary headers with one end free, the said free ends being horizontally recessed, the recesses having a bar extending through them in such a way as to engage the upper and lower surfaces of the recesses thereby permitting relative horizontal motion but preventing relative vertical motion of the subsidiary headers.

2. A superheater header having, in combination, two separate parts for saturated and superheated steam respectively, each provided with alined transverse subsidiary headers with one free end, all the subsidiary headers extending in the same direction and having their free ends recessed, a bar extending through the recesses and engaging the upper and lower surfaces of the recesses, thereby preventing relative vertical displacement of the subsidiary headers there being clearance between the bar and the bottoms of the recesses of one of the sets of subsidiary headers.

3. A superheater header having in combination two separate parts for saturated and superheated steam respectively, each pro vided with alined transverse subsidiary headers with one end free, each subsidiary header having a horizontally extending flange,

and a bar engaging all of said flanges, the flanges of the saturated subsidiary headers engaging the bar on one side, and those of the superheated subsidiary headers engaging it on the opposite side.

4. A superheater header having in combination two separate parts for saturated and superheated steam respectively, each part provided with alined transverse subsidiary headers each having a flange, a bar engaging all of the flanges, and means securing the bar to two of said subsidiary headers.

5. A superheater header having in combination two separate parts for saturated and superheated steam respectively, each part having a series of alined transverse subsidiary headers, the subsidiary headers of one series alternating with those of the other series, a bar adjacent to one end of the subsidiary headers, flanges on one series of subsidiary headers engaging the upper side of the bar, flanges on the other series engaging the lower side of the bar, and means securing the bar to one series of subsidiary headers, there being clearance between the side of the bar faclng the header and the other series of subsidiary headers.

RICHARD STEIN. HERBERT FRANK. 

